KEZZ 1: Here you are, my lovely! And thanks for the review. Should have another up tomorrow, seeing how it's already half written...^_^
So, trying to write an episode like this with what I wanted to do with Carl's took a little extra time because I had to keep going back and forth between chapters. Thanks for waiting and I should have another chapter up tomorrow. Definitely on Friday at the latest.
Beth sat next to Maggie the next day as her eyes fluttered open, "Dr. Carson!"
"Welcome back," the man said, walking up as Maggie rolled onto her back. "Do you remember me? I'm Dr. Carson. You're at Hilltop colony You've been asleep for a while."
"Since we got in the truck," Beth clarified as she hugged her sister. "Yesterday morning. I was so scared!"
"You suffered from a condition called abruptio placentae. It's a separation of the placenta from uterus. It's unusual this early. It's caused by trauma. Possibly the bruises on your abdomen-"
"Did I-I..." Maggie started, breathing sharply as she tried to finish the question, "...lose the..."
"No," Dr. Carson assured her while grabbing the want and jelly to prove to her the baby was safe. "The separation was small. Baby's heart rate is normal. See? There it is," he said as he put the wand to her belly and found the heartbeat, the rhythmic wooshing sound of it filling the room as Maggie cried and held onto Beth's hand. "Now, you need to take it easy for a few days. You don't want to exacerbate the separation anymore. And I really think you need to stay here for the duration of your pregnancy. If anything else happens, I can take care of it. Any questions?" When Maggie moved to sit up, both Beth and Dr. Carson moved to help her. "Whoa, whoa. Easy. Easy, easy, easy."
"Can you say that again?" Maggie asked as she moved.
"What?"
"Everything you just said."
After he repeated himself, he told her he'd give her a few to just let it all sink in. Beth turned to her and told her about how Sasha and Abraham had been helping around the Hilltop, just doing basic tasks that they could for the day that they had been there. Nothing exciting had happened at all and the Saviors were no where to be found as of yet. Glenn had been buried, too, making Maggie ask where. Helping her get up and change into some clean clothes, Beth then helped Maggie leave the medical trailer they had spent the night in, finding Sasha waiting on the steps outside watching Abraham helping the smith.
Sasha hadn't expected the door to the trailer to open so quickly, standing from where she'd been sitting on the steps and looking at Maggie before asking, "You, uh, you okay?"
"Where is he?" Maggie asked after nodding her head. "Where was he buried?"
Sasha and Beth lead her to the unused land behind Barrington house. Glenn's was the only grave back here, Sasha informing Maggie that the people here tended to burn their dead, not bury them. Maggie just stood there, staring at the grave as her hand went to rest on her stomach. All she had left of him now was there, in her belly, and she had to go through it all alone now. Beth being there made it only a minor bit easier to think about raising a child by herself. She and Glenn had been talking about names only three days ago, settling on her father's name for a boy and Glenn's mother's name for a girl. It had all felt so real and so wonderful and now all she had was a growing pit of despair with nothing but a small light at the end of that dark tunnel to guide her way. As she knelt down and touched the grave, Sasha walked over and handed the woman her father's pocket watch.
"It was in his pocket," she told Maggie. "Abraham said all he carried was cigars when he found it." Maggie just smiled sadly as she fought the tears that threatened to escape, placing the watch down on the grave as Sasha and Beth watched. "You know, he told us that you'll be alright. The doctor. He just told us that you have to take it easy for the next few days."
"He told me I have to stay," Maggie admitted. "That we...um...He says it's better if we stay close, just in case, 'til the baby is born."
"Then we'll stay," Sasha told her.
"I'm still thinkin' about it."
"Maggie, you gotta stay," Beth told her. "Now more'n ever that baby is the most important thing. You gotta protect it. We'll all stay with you, but you're stayin'."
"Glad to see you up," Jesus said as he walked up with fresh flowers in his hand, Maggie only just now noticing the green flowers on Glenn's grave.
"Flowers?"
"The ones by your bed, too," Sasha informed her.
"I read somewhere that blue flowers inspire strength and calming," he said as he knelt and replaced the wilted flowers with fresh ones.
"What's green?" Beth asked him, intrigued by the thought that the color of flowers could mean something.
"Release," he replied with a small, sad smile in a show of support.
Maggie sniffled again, having been doing it the whole time to try to keep from actually crying. Beth and Jesus both stepped up to offer support, Jesus putting his hand on her shoulder and squeezing it as Beth gave her a hug. Sasha watched on as Abraham came around a corner with Gregory, a frown firmly planted on his face as the older gentleman started talking.
"Thank God you're finally awake," Gregory said as Abraham walked over to Sasha and put his arm around her for a moment. "You people said you got 'em all," he accused.
"We thought we did," Maggie admitted, looking down before walking up to the man, Sasha and Abraham following behind her while Beth stayed standing next to Jesus. "It was just an outpost."
"Well, how many of them were there?" he asked quietly as Sasha watched the wheels turning in his head.
Maybe it was all that time with Ani. Maybe it was her time as a firefighter. Maybe it was just her instincts that decided they wanted to kick in, but Sasha knew there was something wrong with the man. It wasn't just that his ego was so inflated simply by the fact that he was the leader of this place, either. He literally had no care about anyone but himself and that had come to light in the thirty-six or so hours they'd been there. Gregory hardly knew anyone's names unless they interacted with him personally, so only a few people were called right by the man. He spent the better part of his day in his office sitting at his desk doing hardly anything important while expecting to get the best of everything and drinking away at high spirits. Abraham had even pilfered some of the stuff from a closet in the hallway and smiled before laughing after he showed it to her, commenting on how they could make some damn good medicine or had a righteous, swingin' time in the sack drinking it down.
"There were a lot. Maybe hundreds," Maggie informed him, looking him in the eye and owning up to the mistakes their group had made by making the deal with Gregory to begin with.
"Do they know the deal you made us take, Marsha?"
"It's Maggie," Beth told him.
"No," Maggie said before telling him in a tone that Beth knew all too well; reprimandment in her tone while she laid the entire truth out for all to hear. "And we didn't make you take the deal, Gregory."
Before she could say anything else, though, Gregory held up his hands and said, "I-I-I'm happy we could patch you up. You need to go. Make sure you let Rich know what we did for you."
"Dr. Carson said I should stay," Maggie called to him as he started walking away.
"If he thinks he has the authority to make that decision, he's mistaken," the man said as he rounded on Maggie, putting his hands on his hips.
"If you think you can over-rule a doc's judgment, friend," Abraham said as he rounded his shoulders and towered over the elderly man, "you're mistaken. Or I can march over to that satellite station and tell 'em about our deal here and now. You really wanna make this place have to squeal like a piggy 'cause you kicked a pregnant lady out?"
"This is my house, son," Gregory told him, the look on his face close to constipation with a bit of aggravation to it. "I make the rules here. Not you." He must have been looking at Sasha and Beth, too, who were giving him dirty gazes, as he said, "Don't look at me like that. She'll be safer with her own people." Walking up to them he stated, "And we'll be safer without her. You need to keep your distance from Maggie and stay focused on your work here at Hilltop. Did you do this?" he asked Maggie when he noticed the grave. "We don't bury our dead. We burn them!"
"I did it," Sasha told him before motioning to her and Beth. "We don't live here."
"This is Sasha, Abraham, and Beth. They got Maggie here. They're all from Alexandria."
"I-I can't-" Gregory said as he looked over at Jesus after taking in the looks both Sasha and Beth gave him, looks that pretty much called him an idiot. "I-I don't have time to keep track of everybody."
"Good," Abraham told him. "Then you don't got time tellin' us what we can do. Giddy up out of here on that high horse of yours."
"Look, I've been recuperating, too, Mister. From a stab wound."
"That we saved you from bein' deader than your brains."
"Gregory-" Jesus started but was cut off by the man.
"Look, Maggie said that her people could take care of the Saviors. So far, all they've done is put our community at risk."
"Seems to me, we're the ones that took the risk. All you're doin' is puttin' on airs and makin' excuses for your own shortfalls. Ani was right. You're no leader," Beth said with a scoff, ending with a bit of a chuckle. "Seriously, why do you listen to him?" she asked Jesus
"If they see you here, they'll think we colluded!" Gregory said hotly.
"We did," Sasha told him.
"I did not agree to this," he said, motioning to the grave. "If they think we helped attack their outpost, they'll do that to us. Jesus, do you have any idea what plausible deniability means?"
"If it means your head's about to go up your ass, sure," Abraham told him as Jesus answered with a simple, "Yes."
"Then you know it's our way out. If they leave, we have plausible deniability."
"Except you don't," Beth told him as realization came to her. "The Saviors, they took Ani, right?" she asked her people, a smile beginning to form on her face. "Ani can't lie to save her life. Any question she's asked, she answers honestly. You don't have plausible deniability because all they have to do is ask her, and she'll tell them the truth."
"They have Ani?" Jesus asked, looking at the others.
"And Daryl," Sasha confirmed. "Took them both. Ani to take back to her parents. Daryl for some other reason. I don't know."
"Talkin' with their assholes, that's for sure," Abraham agreed. "Can't talk with their mouths since they're so full of shit. You hear what that prick said to him?" When Beth and Sasha both shook their heads no, Abraham told them, "Said Daryl stole Tiny from her parents and raped her. Threatened to take the baby outta her, too. That's why Daryl snapped."
"Glenn did too," Maggie said while nodding her head in understanding as Gregory's face got darker and darker. "When they threatened me, he did too."
"Look, I don't care who they have or what they did or where they went," Gregory told them, his eyebrows going as high as they could while he shook his head at them and spread his hands out in front of him. "The four of you need to be gone."
"Gr-Gregory, it'll be night soon," Jesus tried reasoning, only for the man to scoff in his face.
Looking down and sighing, he looked back up at the group in front of him and said, "Look, I'm a good guy. You can stay the night. But leave in the morning."
"We'll talk about it more tonight," Jesus told him.
"No, I've made my decision," Gregory said, stopping as he walked away to turn back to him.
"Well, we haven't," Abraham said, standing at his full height, his arms still crossed over his chest. "And if Carson says she's gotta stay," he said gesturing to Maggie, "she's stayin'. You don't got the guts to take us out yourself and your people aren't fighters. We are. Put simply, needle dick, we ain't goin' anywhere."
"Maggie is pregnant," Sasha added.
"Well...that's her mistake," Gregory said as he held his hands up and shrugged.
Beth was the one that walked up to him and sucker punched him right in the face, putting her full force behind it. It wasn't often that she got righteously pissed off, but if she hadn't have punched him, Abraham would've anyway. To say something so callous to Maggie after she lost Glenn was absolutely not something she could tolerate, not as a sister, not as a person. Even though the man didn't go down, he did stumble a few steps and his lip was busted as he held his face in his hand looking at her incredulously.
"It ain't a mistake havin' a baby. It ain't a mistake makin' a life worth livin' in this world. You're the mistake. How a man like you made it this far, I'll never understand," she told him before storming off, Maggie, Sasha, Abraham, and Jesus all following her.
Later that night, Jesus started settling the four Alexandrians into his trailer. There was a bed and a couch that pulled out, so they would all be able to sleep comfortably enough. Space would be tight and Maggie and Beth would have to sleep together, but it wasn't the worst possible setup.
"You sure I can't talk you into taking the extra room at Barrington house?" he asked Sasha and Abraham as they stood by the couch setting it up. Neither of them said anything, prompting Jesus to tell them, "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here."
"Then make Gregory change his mind," Sasha told him.
"I'm gonna try."
"You know as well as I do that that is one load of shit wrapped in a taco," Abraham told him.
"I know," Jesus said with a sigh, setting the basket of his things down as he was going to stay with Cal in the house. "But the people need me here. If it was just Gregory, it would be worse."
"Then why aren't you in charge?" Sasha asked him, genuinely curious as to why they weren't just talking to Jesus about all this instead of putting up with that Gregory prick.
"It's not me. I'm not a leader."
Both Abraham and Sasha gave him twin looks of disbelief as they sat down on the couch. The disappointment that shown through their eyes was honestly mirrored in Jesus's own as he looked at them. They could tell he knew that Gregory wasn't fit to lead. They could tell that Jesus really did want this place to be something better and Gregory was somewhat thwarting his efforts at every turn if it didn't go just his way. Jesus really did have the best interest of this place at heart, and they couldn't fault him for being resistant to change.
"What if we leave?" Abraham asked.
"Yeah," Sasha agreed. "If Maggie and Beth can stay, we'll scavenge for the Hilltop."
"We'll pay for them girls to stay here. You just keep 'em safe."
"Would Gregory go for that?"
Jesus raised his eyebrow and looked down with a slight shake of his head because it was honestly the perfect solution, "Maybe. But I-I don't want that."
"What do you want, Jesus?" Sasha asked him dubiously. "What do you want this place to be?"
With a sigh and an adjustment of his position, Jesus took on a pained expression as he tried to explain himself, "I-I just...I just try to help."
"Helpin' don't do shit if nothin' gets done," Abraham pointed out. "Might be time to step up your game."
Rather than answering the question, Jesus just sighed before a knock on the door sounded and he stood, replacing the chair by the table and saying, "Come in." When Maggie and Beth walked in and closed the door, he gestured over to the bed and said, "I made the bed for you and laid out some clothes. They're mine, so they're more utility than comfort."
"It's okay," Maggie told him. "We won't be here much longer anyway."
"I'm sorry," Jesus responded. "About all of it. I'm...gonna see what I can do."
"Thank you," Beth said. "And sorry about earlier. He just couldn't get away with what he said!"
"It's okay. I probably would have punched him too," Jesus said with a small smile and laugh.
"Why do you burn your dead?" Maggie asked him.
"Umm...the idea was just to keep going," he told her honestly.
"What do you have to remember them by?"
"Us," was all he said before turning and picking up his basket. "I'll see you in the morning."
Jesus left after that, leaving the four by themselves. Beth helped Maggie sit down on the bed and sat beside her as Sasha and Abraham moved to the table in front of them. They were all more than a little worse for wear and everything that was happening had them all downtrodden as well. Even if Beth didn't want to admit it, she was on the verge of tears constantly, half from grief, the other half fear. Maggie was grieving the loss of her husband and trying to come to terms with the fact that, although very much wanted and loved already, the baby would come into the world without a father and she would be alone in raising it. Sasha was reaching her breaking point with what she could handle before she broke down and sobbed, the stress and anger in her bubbling and boiling until she could no longer keep the worried look from shining through her eyes. Abraham, for all his talk and ball busting, was fixated on making sure Maggie stayed safe and the bun in her oven was protected at all times, especially now that they didn't know how Ani and her bun were doing. The fear and stress they were all feeling had them all looking off into space.
"Now what?" Maggie asked after a few moments of silence.
Sasha chuckled and answered, "Maybe we stay."
"Ain't no maybe about it. What can that prick do?" Abraham asked.
"He's in charge," Maggie told them.
"He doesn't have to be," Beth suggested. "We could talk to people. Gregory isn't that great of a leader and doesn't even know everyone's names. I don't think he even knows how to plant or do anythin' productive. Maybe we talk to people and they see it too."
"He's an idiot," Sasha agreed.
"He's a coward," Maggie corrected. "They're more dangerous. We have the night. Let's think about it. Things will be clearer in the morning."
Beth chuckled then, causing the other's eyes to turn to her, "You're already actin' like a leader, Maggie!"
They all shared a laugh before Maggie suggested they turn in for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day whether or not they stayed at the Hilltop. They were all sleeping soundly when the screech and squeal from a speaker woke them up and loud music began to play. Abraham was the first out of bed and over to the window, as Sasha turned the light on the Maggie and Beth got out of bed.
"What is that?" Maggie asked.
"The gates are open," Abraham told her. "Some sort of car and speaker set up out there. Got fires goin' everywhere. And, hell, if we ain't got walkers now too! Those God damned Saviors!" he said as he tried to open the door.
When he found it locked, Sasha tried to get a window open only to find that it had been locked too. There was no way to get out of the trailer and no way to stop what was happening outside. Beth went to the little kitchen area to see if there was anything they could use there, only finding a couple knives that weren't going to be any help in getting out. Maggie was the one who pointed to the hatch on the ceiling. Almost immediately she began to move when she noticed it.
"I have to turn that thing off," she told them.
"The hell you do!" Abraham responded. "You're supposed to be sittin' on your ass right now, takin' it easy. So do it."
"I can't let you do this by yourself," she insisted.
"Sit," Sasha told her.
"Go," Maggie replied.
Abraham was the first onto the roof, helping Sasha through it next. They both took in the sight of walkers pouring through the gates, the fires burning just inside them, and the car that was parked well within the safe zone. They couldn't tell if the gate was just open, broken, or missing altogether, but the influx of walkers was nothing to sneeze at. If anything, they were going to have to split up to handle it. Abraham went to the side of the trailer and jumped down, catching Sasha as she did the same before they began moving.
"You get the car, I got the dead," Abraham told her with a smile before running straight into the walkers.
"Idiot," Sasha muttered as she took off for the car.
Inside the trailer, Maggie was about to climb onto the table and chair to get to the ceiling hatch, but Beth pulled her arm, "Maggie, don't!"
"Stay here," Maggie told her.
"I can fight," she said. "And I'm not pregnant with a doctor's order to take it easy!"
"I know you can fight," Maggie said with tears in her eyes. "But that don't mean you have to. I can't lose you too, Beth, I just can't."
"And I don't want to lose you, either!"
"You won't. I know how to get rid of the car. Remember Jackson?"
"At least let me help you get on and off the roof," Beth relented, knowing she shouldn't cause her sister any more stress than she was dealing with and also remembering what Maggie had done when the boy had cheated on her.
"And then you stay on the roof. You got it?"
"I promise."
Beth climbed up on the roof and helped Maggie up before she yelled at Jesus about Sasha and Abraham. Before they went to the area by the door to climb down, Maggie shouted at the other two people who'd been standing with Jesus on a balcony to get the gate closed. Keeping a hand on Beth as she climbed down, Maggie made sure that the fall was as gentle as it could possibly be, standing with a hiss at the little amount of pain she felt from moving so much. It was minimal at worst, so she simply made her way around the side of the house to the tractor. The keys were still in the thing she noticed as she climbed in and took the seat, starting it up with a smile.
Abraham and Sasha both stopped in their tracks hearing Maggie yelling, both muttering curses before returning to their tasks at hand. Jesus began using his martial arts skills to take out the dead as Abraham was grunting and shouting with every kill he had while Sasha was working her way towards the car killing walkers in her path. The only problem for Sasha was that once she got to the car she found that it was completely locked. The windows had steel gating on them so they couldn't be broken and the back latch was affixed with a middle finger figurehead that completely blocked off the ability to use it. She was still trying to pull at it when a hand on her shoulder had her turning around ready to stab whatever was touching her.
Fortunately, Jesus was quick in blocking her, giving her an amused smile as he said, "Hi."
"Sorry," she shouted over the music.
"It's okay," he shouted back before looking at the car himself and then over to the open gate. "We need to close the gates!"
"Yeah," she agreed, pointing behind him to a walker that he quickly took down.
A revving engine got both their attentions even as they heard Abraham's flamboyant montage continue to ring out. The tractor was coming backwards towards the car they were standing behind, Maggie sitting in the driver's seat. When Sasha shook her head and went to go to her, Jesus pulled her back.
"Sasha! She's got it," he told her. "I need your help here."
Together with Abraham, the two of them began taking care of every walker that didn't get eaten by the tractor wheels as Maggie began the process of destroying the car. Tractors were big, heavy machinery whereas the car barely stood half the height of the tractor's back tires. A little car like that? Maggie knew the tractor would crush it, and in crushing it, the problem with the music would be solved. While she was doing that, the other three were busy fighting the dead. They managed to make it to the gate and close it, though they had been broken. It wasn't an easy task to get it closed, but they somehow managed it. Finishing taking out the walkers, Jesus couldn't understand how Abraham could start chuckling and then full blown laughing until he pointed out the flattened vehicle.
"If that ain't the craziest shit I've seen," he said, swiping at his eye.
The rest of the night was spent cleaning up walkers, Maggie being told to go back to the trailer to get some rest. After giving out a few instructions, that's exactly what she did, thanking everyone for their help along the way. As soon as she got into the trailer she was surrounded by Beth's arms as the girl cried. Maggie couldn't help but hold her sister back, breaking down herself now that it was just the two of them. Eventually they made it to the bed and passed out again, waking to the morning sun shining through the window as Sasha and Abraham dozed on the couch.
Jesus made his way to Gregory's office early in the morning to talk to him about what was going to happen with Sasha and Maggie. After what happened last night, even the citizens of Hilltop were praising the quartet. He explained everything to Gregory, who just sat and listened while rolling his eyes and huffing. When Jesus finished explaining what had happened and what was going to happen, Gregory grabbed his bottle of scotch and poured himself a drink.
"I don't care what they did. The answer is no," he told Jesus flatly.
"I'm not turning away a pregnant woman who helped us," Jesus told him. "I'm not turning away Sasha, Beth, or Abraham either."
"Who the hell are Sasha, Beth, and Abraham?"
"They're staying."
"You're not in charge, Jesus," Gregory told him cockily. "I am. I'm the one that has to look after the safety of this place. What, are you telling you want to call the plays, after all this time, after I set the table here? Say the word. The broken gate, the Saviors, the people—all of this can be yours. Only you'd actually have to stick around for five minutes. You'd actually have to be a part of this place."
"Gregory?" Sasha's voice rang out seconds before the door opened, all four Alexandrians pouring into his office.
"Ah, I-I was just telling Ms. Caitlin to bring up some of her famous rhubarb preserves for you all. It's our way of saying 'thank you' for last night."
"It's Ms. Maitlin," Jesus corrected, thinking about Ani's outburst all those days ago regarding the man's attitude and actions and realizing she was right.
"You can take them with you when you go. And you should go now, because the Saviors could get back any minute," Gregory told them without even bothering to acknowledge Jesus.
"We'll go," Sasha offered, having told Abraham to keep his mouth shut to hopefully make things go smoothly. "But let them stay. We'll call it even on last night."
"No deal," Gregory told her plainly. "But it's been lovely having you here."
She took two steps up to him with a shake of her head, "Just tell me how we can make this work."
Gregory quite obviously gave her a once over before say, "I think we'd need to..meet on that one-on-one to talk-"
"Finish that sentence and you'll be eatin' your own scrotum for breakfast," Abraham said at the same time Maggie said, "Go to hell."
Even Jesus was appalled by Gregory's behavior as the man sat back looking offended and said, "Are you actually implying—No. You know what? I'm sorry. I'm going to tell Ms. Caitlin to keep the preserves."
"It's Ms. Maitlin," Beth told him before the sound of approaching vehicles and shouting came through the windows.
They all rushed to the windows to see Saviors coming into the Hilltop, Gregory rounding on the group of Alexandrians and anxiously saying, "Do you know what they'll do if they find you here? Jesus, get them in the closet."
"Gregory," Maggie started, only to be completely cut off by Gregory pushing at them to get out of his office.
"Go get in there now," he told her, seeming to be actually worried about their well-being. "Don't move and don't speak and maybe you'll get out of this alive."
Jesus lead them to a rather oppulant looking bedroom, Maggie giving him a questioning gaze as she recalled it was Gregory's, "He said the closet. No reason for the Saviors to come in here, and it's a walk-in closet, so you'll all fit."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," he told them as they went in. "Maybe when this is over."
When he came back down the stairs, a group of twenty to thirty Saviors standing in the foyer, an older gentleman talking to Gregory and telling him about what had happened at the outpost. Gregory was quite obvious in his act of curiosity and denial. Maybe that was why the leader pulled him into his office even as Gregory stayed hunched and frightened. When they came back out, Gregory looked much more contemplative and only mildly annoyed. Jesus watched perplexed as the man walked over to the closet he'd known Gregory wanted to stash the Alexandrians in and looked over to him. He shook his head no, only for Gregory to steel himself and open the door.
"Are you serious?" the leader said as Jesus tried to hide his smirk.
Gingerly moving to the box that was sitting in the closet rather than the people that should have been there, Gregory removed a bottle and turned back to Simon, "This is, uh-"
"Scotch," Simon finished for him.
"Well, not just-"
"Hate the stuff," Simon cut him off while pointing to the bottle. "Tastes like, um, ashtrays and window cleaner. I'm a gin man. But this does look like it could harden a connoisseur. Wow. What a gesture."
"You said you hate it?" Gregory asked, holding the bottle to him almost as if it was a child.
"Negan'll love this," Simon clarified. "Now, I'm gonna say it's from me, not mention you, okay? I really want the headline on this one," he said with a smile. "Okay."
"But, um-" Gregory started, but Simon was already on the move, grabbing the box out of the closet.
He grunted at the heaviness of the box as he stepped back and looked at Gregory, "You wanna slide that one back in?" When Gregory just stared at him, Simon closed his eyes and nodded his head, "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You want to slide that one back in, period." As Gregory did as he was told, Simon couldn't help the smile on his face, telling the man, "This is big, Gregory. It's huge. And I won't forget. I really, really appreciate this. Thank you." Turning on his heel, he told the rest of the people of Hilltop, "Now, we're gonna go through the place and take half of everything you have. But! Only half. Take this to the Negan truck," he told one of the soldiers after clicking his tongue to get his attention before raising his voice. "Exeunt, gentlemen! Get to work! Oh, and, take the painting," he told another soldier as he walked towards the door, stopping and drawing in a breath through his teeth before turning back to Gregory. "One last thing, Gregory. Can I just get a kneel out of you?" he asked the man, putting his hand on his arm.
"Excuse me?" Gregory asked while Jesus watched on, seeing for himself how much a coward Gregory really was when Simon repeated himself and Gregory actually knelt in front of him with a nod of his head and a quiet chuckle.
If he had thought that the Hilltop colony could survive with Gregory as its leader before, now he knew better. Ani had pointed it out the first time she met him after interacting with him for all of two seconds. Respect was nothing to the man unless it was him getting it. He couldn't be bothered to get hardly anyone's names right, mostly just talking without using names and calling workers 'you' or 'hey'. Maggie had taken the reigns during the attack last night while Gregory had hidden in his room doing nothing. Maggie had been the one to instruct people what to do and do what needed to be done. If anything, Jesus was starting to realize that just because Gregory was here at the start, that didn't make him qualified to be a leader. A leader did just that, they lead. They didn't cower or lower themselves to others out of fear like Gregory was doing right now as Simon bent to look the man in the face.
"That's a solid kneel, Gregory," he told him before patting his shoulder. "Remember that for next time."
As the Saviors left the building, Jesus remained watching Gregory, who quickly rose to sit on the couch next to where he was kneeling before fixing what little hair he had left and standing up. Jesus waited until all the Saviors had left the house, having already taken what goods they could from there previously. What they wanted was mostly outside and in the storage cellars. All the Hilltop's extra supplies were in there, so that's where they'd grab most of the stuff from. He made is way up the stairs and into Gregory's room, opening the closet to let the quartet out before Gregory stormed in and slammed the door himself.
"I told you to hide them in the hallway closet," he accused angrily.
"No," Jesus protested. "You said 'closet.'"
"This is my bedroom," Gregory told him, his accusatory tone still firmly in place. "What if they came in here before I-"
"Before you tried to give us up?" Sasha asked.
"They would have killed you first," Maggie informed him.
"Honey, I'm talking to Jesus," he told her.
"Stop!" Jesus told him, having had enough of Gregory's attitude and childlike behavior.
"Why are you even defending her?" Gregory asked. "We're here right now because she and-and Rich didn't handle things like they said they would."
"The Saviors tried to kill you," Jesus yelled right back.
"That was a misunderstanding," Gregory told him, only for Abraham to stop whatever he was going to say next.
"Misunderstandin' my left ballsack!" he said. "The Saviors want you gone, Papa Smurf. Whether we're here or not."
"They already know you colluded with us," Beth reasoned. "Why do you think they did all that last night? They already suspect and know what happened at the outpost had somethin' to do with you. I mean, your head was what was supposed to be delivered, and instead everyone dies? They aren't stupid."
"As soon as the Saviors leave, we get them the hell out of here before something really bad happens," Gregory told Jesus, completely ignoring the Alexandrians and their voices of reason, unlike Jesus who had similar concerns to what Beth had pointed out.
"Stop!" he said again. "They're staying. Or do you want make it public?" he asked, finally standing up for what he wanted the Hilltop to be, not what Gregory wanted. "You want to make the deal with Alexandria public? Lose your plausible deniability? Lose your position?"
Gregory had been sporting a mildly amused look on his face up until Jesus threatened that, squaring his shoulders and standing a little straighter as he looked at Jesus in obvious mockery, "So you're gonna be in charge now?"
"No," Jesus told him, looking him straight in the eye with a grimace on his face. "It's just that you won't be. Maggie, Sasha, Abraham, and Beth are staying. I'm staying. We're all gonna be one big happy dysfunctional family."
Looking over at the Alexandrians with contempt, Gregory chuckled before telling Jesus, "So we will be. And I'll see us through this."
"You'll try," Beth countered.
"I made progress with them today!" Gregory defended looking to Jesus. "You saw it!"
"That's not what I saw," Jesus said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah? Well that's what happened," he said defensively while the others looked on. "We play nice, they play nice," he said as he walked up to them, speaking to Maggie. "See, dear? The Saviors can actually be quite reasonable."
Whatever he had intended to say next was immediately thrown away as Maggie clocked him in the jaw after noticing what was in his pocket. The Greene sisters both knew how to throw their weight into a punch and had the same affect on Gregory. The split in his lip from Beth's own sucker punch reopened as he looked at Maggie in disbelief that she would do that after he'd finally relented. It wasn't until he straightened back out and Maggie walked up to him taking Hershel and Glenn's watch off the man that the others understood her actions.
"It's a fine watch," Gregory tried to reason. "Doesn't need to be left out in the rain."
"This is our home now," Maggie told him. "So you'll learn to start to call me by my name. Not Marsha. Not 'dear.' Not 'honey.' Maggie. Maggie Rhee."
Gregory just looked at her in disdain before marching out of his room, Maggie and Beth going to stand by one window while Abraham and Sasha took position at the next. Jesus stood in the center of the room watching the four and thinking about how things could be so different with them here. Sasha and Abraham had already been helping where they could and Beth had started working with the few kids they had there to teach them basic self-defense. Maggie and how she handled the walkers and the car last night, it had him smiling softly at her as he spoke to the group.
"When I got here, Gregory was already in charge. I thought the people chose him for a reason. Looking at it now, I think it just happened. I didn't like how he did things," he sighed. "But I couldn't imagine anyone else in his place. I can now."
"Who?"
"We'll talk about it sometime," he told her, sharing a look with Beth as he spoke, Maggie catching Sasha and Abraham's smiles in her direction before she turned to Jesus. "I should've talked to Gregory sooner. I'm sorry. Hopefully, you'll let me make it up to you."
"We will," Maggie told him as she looked back out the window. "The gates are closed."
When she went to move, Jesus got in the way and said, "Wait, they're still loading up outside."
"I'll see you back at the trailer," Maggie told the others before walking away.
Beth, Sasha, and Abraham stayed in the room, watching out the windows until Sasha asked Beth to check on Maggie, turning to Jesus as soon as the young woman left the room, "You really want to make it up to us?"
"What do you need?"
"Can you find where Negan lives?" Abraham asked him, having discussed the possibilities over with Sasha the previous night after everything had settled down and been taken care of.
"One of the trucks is going back there," Jesus stated. "So...yeah, I can do that."
"Can you keep it between the three of us. Just you, me, and Abraham?" Sasha asked him.
"No Maggie or Beth?"
"I don't like it, but we can't," Sasha told him.
"Beth is a trigger itch away from goin' after Negan himself and Maggie's in no condition to be pullin' a move like this off," Abraham said. "We tell 'em what we're doin', they'll wanna do it too."
"Beth's all the family has left, and the same is true about Maggie," Sasha reasoned. "They shouldn't take the risks."
"I don't like it," Jesus told him.
"None of us do," Abraham assured him.
Outside, Beth caught up to Maggie as she saw her heading around Barrington to where the graves were with the watch still in hand. She couldn't help the smile that graced her face when she saw Enid sitting by Glenn's grave, green balloons hanging from the cross. Maggie and Enid had grown close while Beth was doing her own thing. Enid kind of reminded both of them of this little girl they used to babysit down in Georgia for the nearby neighbors during the summers so her parents could work the fields. They both enjoyed the young girl's company and both felt comfortable in her presence. For Beth, it was just nice knowing someone else was there for Maggie, someone outside of their original group, or Jesus, who was still somewhat unknown to her.
"You're here," Maggie said, causing Enid to look over to her.
She quickly got up and walked over to them, taking one of their hands in each of hers before asking Maggie, "Are you okay?"
"I'm not," she admitted before walking toward the grave holding the watch still in her hand. "But I will be."
They all shared a hug before heading back to the trailer the group had been living in. Enid made some soup from what was in the cupboards while Beth made sandwiches and Maggie rested. Even though it was a simple lunch, the three of them felt more relaxed than they had for a long time. As Beth took the sandwiches to the table and set the bowls and silverware out, Enid came over with the soup.
"People told me you killed walkers and a car...with a tractor?"
"I couldn't sit by and watch. Not again. So I guess I sat and did something."
"You're supposed to take it easy," Enid told her.
"You think I haven't been tellin' her that?" Beth asked. "She's stubborn."
"It wasn't that hard," Maggie defended while looking at Beth before looking over to Enid. "It wasn't my first time." Enid looked at her perplexed as Beth started giggling, Maggie telling Enid, "There was this boy in high school."
"You ran over the boy?" Enid asked sounding just a little scared, making Beth full on laugh and Maggie chuckle.
"His car," she told her while nodding her head.
"Oh," Enid said as she laughed along with Beth.
"It was a Camero. And then it wasn't," Maggie whispered like it was some sort of secret.
The door opened and Sasha and Abraham walked in, Sasha commenting, "Enid."
"Hi," the young girl told her. "I—I came to help."
"You came by yourself?" Abraham asked.
"Yeah," she said after a brief pause, making the man raise an eyebrow but dig no further. "Have some dinner."
"Why are there balloons on Glenn's grave?" Sasha asked as the pair sat down and joined the three women.
"There's nothing marking the grave," Enid told her.
"Nope," Maggie said, holding up the watch. "I was gonna use this for him. It was my dad's. He gave it to him." Getting a nod from Beth, Maggie handed it over to Enid and told her, "Now I'm giving it to you. I don't need anything to remember him by. We have us."
They joined hands then, all five, and said a prayer over the meal before they began to eat. At the trucks, Jesus quickly ran through the tall grass as the truck meant to go to Negan's compound left the area. It was really easy to get into the truck while sticking in the blind spot of the driver. The first thing he noticed was the box of scotch Simon had taken from Gregory, pulling the half gone bottle out and taking a healthy sip before he began pouring it out on the ground to make himself a trail.
"Hey," he heard, looking up to see Carl sitting further back in the truck, hiding behind some boxes, Jesus looking at him in disbelief.